Chapter 9 "The Omnivore's Dilemma"

Chapter nine of ‘The Omnivore’s Dilemma’ discusses the quickly growing organic side of the food economy. The idea that ‘Whole Foods’ is a more quality place to purchase groceries because of the ‘Supermarket Pastoral’ added onto the label. This little tid-bit of precisely worded material serves to connect the consumer with the people who raised the food he or she is buying and thus create a superficial relationship, which comforts the buyer into paying twice as much for this milk from cows that ‘live free from unnecessary fear and distress’. Pollan is amused by the tactics of advertisers to include such claims. However he himself shops at Whole Foods and feels better about the food he buys because of the conditions described that stimulate his imagination and help him to imagine a better life for the animals he’s exploiting.

Later in the chapter Pollan describes the government action taken in 1990 pertaining to the organic food market. The Organic Food and Production Act was passed by Congress which required the Department of Agriculture to establish national standards for the word ‘organic’. A battle ensued over how to define the money-making term. Finally a somewhat blurry line was established between what is and what isn’t appropriately organic. Gene Kahn and his followers argued for the allowance of synthetics in organic food, which contradicts the entire idea of organic, natural foods, while the organic farmers wanted recognition for keeping their products chemical free. In the end the blurry line stood fast, there is now such thing as a ‘microwavable organic TV dinner’.

The Omnivore's Dilemma Ch. 2, 6 and 7

While reading The Omnivore's Dilemma it's easy to picture what Michael Pollan is describing. He does a wonderful job of outlining exactly what it looks like, and that depth within his writing allows the reader, me, to stay with him in his explanations and friendly story telling. In chapter two Pollan begins to describe the farm and the methodology of farming the Iowa farmer George Naylor. Pollan speaks of his friend the farmer in a admirable way, and the story of Naylor's life is one that you'd hear from a grandparent around Christmas time. It's humbling to hear of the life of someone who lives off the land, mostly because that's becoming rare these days. There has been such a change in the corn industry that even the honest farmer has boughten into the idea of hybrid breeds of corn which can withstand the complimenting pesticides and the yield increasing use of special fertilizers. This change in the industry is innovative, yet tragic. The changes in corn have helped the plant become the booming commodity it is today, however inflation has created even more work for the farmer. A corn planter needs twice as much crop to make the same lousy amount of money that he could yield before the transformation. Corn is cheap these days.

Moving on to chapter six, Pollan begins to discuss what all this cheap corn has turned into. Due to the excess amount of the commodity corn is being made into much more than a side dish at the dinner table. Sweeteners, alcohol, cereal, even twinkies are derived from the yellow stuff. These items are now more readily available, and cheap, so the sales rise and so does the number on the scales in American households. Obesity is a raging problem in the United States largely because of the cheap calories produced from corn and fed to thrifty Americans. There is such an emphasis on weight in our culture and this critical factor makes Pollan's point hit home. We don't eat as healthy as we should, it is going to hurt us as a society, and yet it seems the only thing being done about it is creating more and more of the stuff that's hurting us.